To get some timely health tips, I called a few mental health experts, who did not call back.

Then I called Nick Bardsley, a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified personal trainer, precision nutrition coach, golf enthusiast and the most physically fit person I know. (“Please don’t put that,” he said.)

His advice: Eat salads, broth-based soup and ignore detox plans.

“People love the idea of a quick-fix or a reset, with the New Year coming,” he said. “It’s just a massive marketing scam.” (Or, as my editor Andy Newman would say, “Avoid extreme solutions.”)

Still, the coming of darkness carries with it the temptation to stuff oneself like a bear.

Think about upcoming parties or vacations, and how you want to look and feel at them, Mr. Bardsley advised. That may curb your impulses to have extra helpings of sweets and treats.

“If you can hang on through the winter, you’re in great shape for the New Year,” he said.

Got any tips on how to get through the coming winter? Post a comment or email us at nytoday@nytimes.com.

No heat for 10 years, and the city’s their landlord

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The Badia family relies on space heaters and blankets to stay warm in their apartment in the Bronx.CreditKholood Eid for The New York Times

The living conditions of the 100-or-so residents of the Eagle Avenue apartments in the Bronx are emblematic of sweeping neglect by the Housing Authority:

When temperatures drop, the family brings out small electric space heaters, which they purchased, and duct tapes the edges of their windows to no avail. On the chilliest nights, the parents snuggle in one bed with their 6- and 11-year-old daughters, whose asthma worsens as a result of the cold temperatures.

Coming up today

Terre Roche’s annual carol-sing under the Washington Arch, which we mistakenly listed yesterday, is actually tonight at 6 p.m., rain or no. (Shoutout to Lance and Mary Anne of the Upper West Side who showed up last night at our misguided urging and had to settle for a quick chorus of “Hallelujah” with Ms. Roche’s friend Cliff.) [Free]

Food and literature collide as food historians discuss the T.C. Boyle novel “The Road to Wellville” at the city Department of Records. 5:30 p.m. [Free, includes snacks]

— Iman Stevenson

Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times’s culture pages.

And finally: Jews, Chinese food and Christmas

So often, around this time of year, great minds have wondered: Why do Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas?

“Chinese food on Christmas has become as American Jewish as apple pie,” National Public Radio’s Robert Siegel once said.

The Atlantic recalled how, during a 2010 Supreme Court nomination hearing, Elena Kagan was asked where she was last Christmas. “You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant,” she said.

On Friday, that connection gets explored some more.

“Did Jews discover Chinese food on Christmas, or did Chinese restaurants discover Jewish customers?” is the question behind “Chow x Judaism,” a food, alcohol and comedic conversation at the Museum of Food and Drink on Friday.

One guest, Joshua Eli Plaut, is a rabbi in Manhattan and author of “A Kosher Christmas: ’Tis the Season to Be Jewish.” He told the Brooklyn Paper recently, “The Chinese restaurant is a place where you announced your Jewish identity.”

The museum’s festivities begin at 6:30 p.m.

Metropolitan Diary: First snow, P.S. 84, West 92nd Street

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Dear Diary:

Like starlings they were, Black ones, brown ones, pale, pale beige,

Dressed in mittens and hats, Unbuttoned coats flapping in the wind,

Laughing, shouting, jumping, Tongues out-thrust

Toward high-rise homes, Catching snowflakes, midair,

A winter’s dance between fenced-in macadam And skyscrapered clouds.

— Marcia Bowers

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